SUNDAY D1
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Life
Section D
Today’s
weather
picture by
Caroline
Gilbert, 8,
Pleasant Valley
Primary School
Sunday, april 29, 2007
Dave Barry
The legend
that is
‘Louie’
Battle
Ground’s
team tries
to regroup
during the
commercial
break of a
recent taping
of “High Five
Challenge.”
The show,
regionally
broadcast on
PBS, typically
attracts
60,000
to 80,000
viewers per
episode.
W
hen I heard that
Richard Berry, the
man who wrote “Louie
Louie,” had died, I said …
Well, I can’t tell you, in a family newspaper, what I said. But
it was not a happy remark. It
was the remark of a person
who realizes he’ll never get to
thank somebody for something. I remember the day I
first heard “Louie Louie.” I
was outside my house, playing
basketball with my friends on
a “court” that featured a backboard nailed to a tree next
to a geologically challenging
surface of dirt and random
rocks, which meant that whenever anybody dribbled the
ball, it would ricochet off into
the woods and down the hill,
which meant that our games
mostly consisted of arguing
about who would go get it.
So we spent a lot of our
basketball time listening to a
transistor radio perched on a
tree stump, tuned to WABC
in New York City. (I mean the
radio was tuned to WABC; the
stump was tuned to WOR.)
And one miraculous day in
1963, out of the crappy little
transistor speaker came …
Well, you know what it
sounds like: This guy just wailing away, totally unintelligibly,
with this band just whomping
away behind him in the nowlegendary “Louie” rhythm,
whomp-whomp-whomp,
whomp-whomp, whompwhomp-whomp …
And it was just so cool. It
was 500 million times cooler
than, for example, Bobby
Rydell. It was so cool that I
wanted to dance to it right
there on the rocky dirt court,
although, of course, as a
15-year-old boy of that era, I
would have sawed off both my
feet with a nail file before I
would have danced in front of
my friends.
I loved “Louie Louie” even
before I found out that it had
dirty words. Actually, it turned
out that it didn’t have dirty
words, but for years we — and
when I say “we,” I’m referring
to the teenagers of that era
and J. Edgar Hoover — were
convinced that it did, which, of
course, just made it cooler. We
loved that song with no idea
whatsoever what it was about.
But for me the coolest thing
about “Louie Louie” was this:
I could play it on the guitar. In
fact, just about anybody could
play it, including a reasonably trainable chicken. Three
chords, nothing tricky. This is
why, when I — like so many
teenage boys of that era-became part of a band in a futile
attempt to appeal to girls,
“Louie Louie” was the first
song we learned.
We’d whomp away on our
cheap, untuneable guitars
plugged into our Distort-OMatic amplifiers, and our dogs
would hide and our moms
would leave the house on unnecessary errands, and we’d
wail unintelligibly into our
fast-food-drive-thru-intercomquality public address system,
and when we were finally done
playing and the last out-oftune notes had leaked out of
the room, we’d look at each
other and say: “Hey! We sound
like the Kingsmen!” And the
beauty of that song is, we kind
of did.
Photos by
Kristina Wright
for The Columbian
Battle Ground team gets
a ‘High Five’
A
Did you know?
n “High Five Challenge” has never
received the consistent commercial
backing creator Wayne Faligowski
had hoped for, causing him to
regularly switch studios over the
program’s 14
seasons. Two
years ago, he
decided to try
teaming with
Oregon Public
Broadcasting. In
turn, he’s had to
develop means
other than paid
commercials
to raise money
Wayne
to support
Faligowski
the program’s
$160,000 annual Creator and
host
budget. The
of “High Five
transition has
Challenge”
been harder
than imagined,
Faligowski acknowledges.
By Brett Oppegaard
Columbian staff writer
fter 11 years of trying, coach Jonas Fridriksson and his Battle Ground High
School academic team finally made it. They were in the playoffs of the “High
Five Challenge” television game show.
This is a moment Fridriksson intends to savor. He’s cutting out extracurricular
Jonas Fridriksson, Battle Ground’s academic coach, and
his 9-year-old son, Levi, watch the team struggle through
much of the match.
work next year to spend more time with his three children,
including a 10-month-old daughter.
But the comfort of accomplishment transforms into
anxiety when the show starts. In the spacious basement
of Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, four high-definition studio cameras and dozens of audience members
watch as Central Catholic High School, one of Oregon’s
top private schools, repeatedly beats Battle Ground to the
buzzer. By the commercial break, the Portland team has
built a seemingly insurmountable lead in the “Jeopardy”like quiz show.
Fridriksson gives a pep talk. The second round will have
fresh topics, making it a new game. When play resumes,
the teacher winces as categories appear that he knows don’t
interest his students, including a set of questions labeled
“Celeb Meltdowns.” The score gradually becomes an
intellectual exercise of its own: Is it even possible for Battle
Ground to make a comeback? After slumbering, can the
He had been making $30,000 to
$50,000 a year on the project before
switching to public television. Since
the move, he hasn’t been able to
draw a salary from the program
and has borrowed about $60,000
against his Beaverton, Ore., house
to keep the show going.
“I don’t care if I get that money back
in two to three years,” the 65-yearold says. “Or if it never comes
back, that’s how it goes. But I’m not
going to go on for a third year in the
negative.”
Team, Page D6
Families can do part to save planet
By Alex Fryer
The Seattle Times
SEATTLE — John and Cori
Fraley of Bothell are a typical
family: two kids, two cars, a
1,900-square-foot house.
They have a computer and
two TVs and keep their home at
a comfortable 68 degrees when
it’s cold out. Together, they log
about 2,500 miles behind the
wheel each month.
But this middle-class lifestyle
comes at a cost to the environment, scientists say.
The Fraleys produce about
44,000 pounds of greenhousegas emissions each year,
through the cars they drive,
the electricity and natural gas
they use, and the waste they
generate. That’s typical for an
American family, according to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Individual households account for about one-fifth of
the nation’s greenhouse-gas
emissions, which scientist say
contribute to the rising temperatures and dramatic environmental changes being documented
across the globe.
Most of those emissions are
in the form of carbon dioxide
released through the burning
of fossil fuels that power our
homes and cars and help make
the things we buy.
The Fraleys want to do their
part to help. They will try to cut
their greenhouse-gas emis-
John and Cori
Fraley spend
some time
with sons
Aaron and Alex
just before
bedtime April
4. The Fraleys
produce
about 44,000
pounds of
greenhousegas emissions
each year.
sions next month as part of a
Seattle Times special project
that encourages readers to
reduce their climate-changing
emissions by at least 15 percent
during May.
But in this age of widescreen
TVs, multiple-car families and
digital everything, can a household make meaningful cuts in
energy use, short of going off
the grid?
And even if it does, can it
make a dent in global warming?
Almost every aspect of
modern life contributes to
greenhouse gases — water
vapor, carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide — that stay in
Lifestyle, Page D5
Dean Rutz/Seattle Times
barry, Page D5
Dave Barry is a columnist
for the Miami Herald. His
classic column was originally
published March 23, 1997. He
is currently taking a leave of
absence from writing his weekly
humor column. Write to him c/o
The Miami Herald, One Herald
Plaza, Miami FL 33132.
your
Guide:
Travel: Puglia,
in Italy’s heel,
has it all …
except too many
tourists /D4
Books:
Reporters,
photographers
remember
Halberstam
in Vietnam /D8
Coming Monday:
‘Miracle Worker’
translates into life lesson
at VSAA /D1
Sunday CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
D6 The Columbian Team:
From Page D1
team suddenly wake up?
That last question also
reflects on this rural upstart of
a town in the center of Clark
County. When Fridriksson
started his job at the high
school in the mid-1990s, Battle
Ground was half its current
size of 16,000 people and
plagued with a school funding
crisis. Rapid growth only made
the old problems worse, replacing civic pride in the city’s rural
roots with a defeatist pall.
New community leaders,
such as Fridriksson, are changing attitudes. Voters in 2005
passed the largest bond issue
in city history, a $63 million
boost for school construction.
Battle Ground also is in the
process of building a $3.4 million library.
Battle Ground has begun a
transition. While keeping pride
in its past, it’s showing a progressive spurt of optimism.
During the city’s rustic
yesteryear, country-western
apparel store John’s Shoes and
Clothing grew into a downtown
landmark. Now it competes
with strip malls and big-box
D6
Sunday, April 29, 2007
stores. The area’s pastures
and heavy-machinery shops
rapidly are being replaced with
subdivisions and commercial
complexes.
Fridriksson, reared in
Alaska, doesn’t even own cowboy boots. When people meet
the 37-year-old and learn he’s a
teacher, the next question they
usually ask is: “What sport do
you coach?” When the 6-foot-3,
250-pounder says “Knowledge Bowl,” they typically act
surprised and ask when bowling became a school activity.
Fridriksson has to clarify with
the “Jeopardy” comparison. It’s
like that game show, he says,
only with slightly different
rules. The “High Five Challenge” is another variation.
It doesn’t take much training, Fridriksson says, for his
“Knowledge Bowl” players to
make the transition. The primary difference is that teams
lose points in the “High Five
Challenge” for an incorrect
answer. In “Knowledge Bowl,”
there is no penalty for trying.
Fridriksson’s team is led
by senior Forrest Marler, one
of the half-dozen “High Five
Challenge” participants from
throughout Washington chosen this year to be an all-star.
Since Battle Ground’s earlier
On TV
■ “High Five Challenge”
Noon Sundays, PBS.
Today: Columbia River High
School vs. Oak Hill High School
from Eugene, Ore.
May 20: Battle Ground High
School vs. Portland’s Central
Catholic High School.
The finals: Columbia River
vs. Bellevue High School on
May 27.
contestant Taylor Hicks. But
Central Catholic tries to steal
the 80 points, through a quirky
— and risky — maneuver of
the game. A correct answer
would cement Central Catholic’s place in the finals. But
the Portland team is wrong,
causing it to lose double that
amount. With a clicking thump
Kristina Wright for The Columbian
of the scoreboard beneath its
Battle Ground celebrates after the show, with coach Jonas Fridriksson, center, shaking hands
podium, Central Catholic’s
with senior Forrest Marler, while Fridriksson’s son Levi gives a thumbs-up to senior Alex Rhoades. lead dramatically shrinks to 30
points. Off-camera, Fridriksvictory was aired at school,
intimidate. Fellow seniors Alex
Battle Ground players the
son straightens up in his chair.
Marler has become a celebrity
Rhoades and Tyler Jessup also
program’s customary slapping
The final question, worth 40
of sorts on campus. He wants
wear dark shirts, pants and
of high-fives. Faligowski, a
points, appears on the numerto keep that social momentum.
ties, like they could be audition- former KOIN-TV reporter, quit
ous studio screens:
Marler, 6-foot-2 and 250
ing for “The Sopranos.”
the news business in 1993 to
“Actor Vincent Pastore of
pounds, wears a black suit with
When Fridriksson arrives at
create and develop this local
‘The Sopranos’ dropped out of
a white tie to the taping of the
the television studio and sees
game show. He says about the
this competition after he found
playoff match. He also wants to
the three of them together, he
career change, “I was fed up
the training too strenuous.”
quips, “Getting married?”
with the junk on TV. I want
Battle Ground’s Smith,
Fridriksson jokes with them
good kids to be on there.”
who has been virtually silent
like he’s a friend, not an authorSouthwest Washington
throughout the show, rings in
ity figure. He says, “These are
always has been a major
and correctly answers: “Dancthe kinds of kids that, outside
contributor to the program.
ing with the Stars.” Central
of band, not that many people
Vancouver’s Hudson’s Bay
Catholic’s team appears
around the school get to know.
High School won four out of
stunned as Faligowski suddenThey are pretty reserved. They the first five championships.
ly wraps up the episode, declarkind of go under the radar.
Mountain View
ing Battle Ground the
They are not troublemakers.
High School, in east
winner.
ON THE WEB
They are not the athletes. We
Vancouver, was the
The first thing
www.high-five.com
tend to make a big deal out of
defending champion
Rhoades says to Fridthe kid that scores the winning this year, but its team
riksson afterward is:
touchdown, while these ones
didn’t score high enough in
“You are not going to show that
get overlooked.”
the regular season to make the at school, are you?”
As they wait for their match,
playoffs. Battle Ground had the
“I think it teaches a great
Battle Ground team members
fourth-highest total of the year
lesson about never giving up,”
watch another show being
out of 60 schools.
Fridriksson says. “It always
taped. “Justin Timberlake”
It’s the first time that Fridcould come down to the last
is the answer to two of the
riksson and Battle Ground’s
question.”
questions in that segment’s
team have been able to ad“No,” Marler interjects. “It
final round. Neither team gets
vance this far. Central Catholic
teaches you to give up while
those questions right. Rhoades
exploits the inexperience by re- you are ahead and coast. …
acknowledges that many of the peatedly beating Battle Ground I can’t believe that just hapstudents in this type of competo the buzzer. The Clark
pened.”
tition don’t know much about
County kids’ expressions show
Later, in the parking lot,
sports or popular culture,
they know the answers, it’s just
Fridriksson says he’ll broadmaking those the most feared
that Faligowski keeps calling
cast the episode on the school’s
categories.
on their competitors with the
TV network because it demonWhen Battle Ground’s turn
quicker triggers. Marler keeps
strates the community’s grit as
on stage comes, the boys in
the game within reach by inter- well as what it can accomplish
black take their places behind
jecting right answers every so
with its newfound bravado.
the first three microphones of
often.
“They just came into the city
their podium. Hannah Smith,
As the time left dwindles,
and beat a prestigious private
a junior, and Jimmy Kramer, a
Battle Ground finds itself down school,” Fridriksson says of his
sophomore, fill the other spots. by 190 points with only a few
team members. “Here are kids
When taping starts, host
seconds remaining. Battle
that have put a lot of time and
Wayne Faligowski cheerily
Ground rings in first on a
effort into their academics, inruns onto the set giving the
question about “American Idol” side and outside the classroom.
There just are not that many
opportunities for them to shine
in front of the student body. …
I want them to get the recognition they deserve.”
Postscript
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Even though Battle Ground
High School beat Central
Catholic High School in a match
that will air May 20, its score
was not high enough to earn the
team a spot in the final round.
Vancouver’s Columbia River
High School, which finished
15th out of 60 schools during
the regular season, randomly
was chosen as a wild card
for the playoffs. In that role,
it was matched against the
top-scoring team of the year,
Oak Hill School of Eugene, Ore.
Columbia River upset Oak Hill,
scoring the highest total of the
playoffs, 2,400 points, which
qualified the team for the finals.
The Vancouver school then
lost the championship match
to Bellevue. Besides Marler of
Battle Ground, Aaron Brown
of Mountain View High School
also was named one of the
tournament’s all-stars.